Yeah, nothing to do with his ideology.
Via RCP:
TAVIS SMILEY: Those who are pushing for these tough ID laws, there are those who cherish their right to vote, in part because, including the Supreme Court, I might add. Whose argument seems to be that in the era of the first African-American president, these voter ID laws, these laws in the Voting Rights Act specifically, are no longer necessary. We afterall, have an African-American president. How then does one make the argument that we still have to have these laws that carve out special privileges and special protections of African-Americans when they’re done enough to elect a black president.
SEN. PAT LEAHY (D-Vermont): Well I was and am a strong supporter of Barack Obama, he’s one of 44 presidents. 43 White, 1 African-American. We’ve got to do more about that. But I also know that it is not just the president, it is the legislatures, the governors, the members of Congress. Because there are those who never want to have another African-American president, and that would be another very, very bad thing for this country.